Environmentalist, supporters roughed up in temple
Dehradun, May 13
The supporters of hydropower projects who are protesting the arrival of environmentalist GD Aggarwal (Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand Saraswati) at Dhari Devi Temple roughed him up as well as his team members when they were offering prayers at the temple. On this occasion, former BJP leader Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and senior leader Uma Bharti were also present.

Haridwar, May 13
With regional outfit Uttarakhand Kranti Dal on the verge of another split, the activists associated with the party in Haridwar are in a dilemma.

This is due to both the factions calling themselves as the original parental party and luring them to attend their respective conventions to be held in Dehradun.

While Kashi Singh Airy’s supporters are holding a convention on May 19, the other faction led by central party chief Trivendra Singh Panwar will be hosting it on May 25.

With minimum base of UKD in Haridwar, both the factions are trying to include the existing district unit members in their group.

This has created a dilemma for many of the district party leaders as in the past, too, the UKD got divided into Diwakar Bhatt and Trivendra Panwar factions.

Central secretary of labour cell Uday Ram Semwal said that due to the ongoing party inner crisis they failed to field a single ward councillor candidate in the just concluded civic elections.

Semwal said that the crisis had not gone down well with party activists as well as people of Haridwar as the image of UKD is getting weak, owing to regular splits in the party.

“We couldn’t field a single councillor as the party is divided into two factions. Who is original or who holds election symbol further dented our spirit, as a result of which we have no representation in the 30-member Municipal Corporation,” lamented Semwal.

To this Haridwar city youth chief Lalit Mamgain,who has quite distanced himself from regular party activities, points that the leaders in the helm are quite unconcerned about the party base.

He pointed that holding press conferences in Dehradun is the norm of the party leaders but they have failed to increase the party base in 13 districts of the state. Be it Pauri Garhwal, Champawat, Pithoragarh, Almora, Nainital or Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar UKD’s base has decreased only.

Veteran UKD leader Rana Ranbir Singh, who was present during the installation of statue of Veer Chandra Singh Garhwal in 1992 when UKD announced Uttarakhand’s capital as Gairsain, feels hurt over the regional outfits' ongoing condition.

Rana said that once on UKD’s call, people used to agitate for months, took to streets and ignored BJP, Congress and Communists when they tried to lead the separate statehood agitation. ''We had four legislators in 2000 and now we have just one. Most of the leaders at the helm seem to regard UKD as their own party, which has hurt the party the most,'' said Rana.

Women's wing chief Sarita Purohit says that now they are looking to both the conventions and will decide which faction to join after reviewing both the conventions' working.

Haridwar, May 13
With Mayor Manoj Garg getting a substantial number of votes from the minority-dominated Jwalapur, despite being a BJP candidate, he has assured the minority community that special focus would be given to Jwalapur during his tenure.

Recently, independent councillor Tarannum also joined th eBJP in the presence of a large number of Muslim leaders, increasing the tally of BJP councillors to 20 in the 30-member municipal corporation.

At least four felicitation functions have been organised at Jwalapur by different minority leaders, in which dozens of Muslim activists have joined the BJP.

As a result, Garg, while meeting a delegation of the minority leaders, assured them of equal importance to all the wards of the corporation. He said that owing to the huge population in Jwalapur and it being neglected for the past few decades by the respective municipal committees, the area needed special focus.

“Jwalapur lacks in civic amenities, sanitation and infrastructure which I will try to provide in my mayoral tenure. Hindus and Muslims have been living peacefully in Haridwar, so there is no question of bias. Every community will be catered to and development is my only agenda,” said Garg at Mohalla Ghoshiyan.

Muslim leader Hazi Mukkaram alleged that people from the community were joining the BJP in large numbers as the Congress had used them as only a vote bank for past 66 years.

Mukkaram said that Jwalapur voters played a decisive role during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections for the Congress, but local parliamentarian Harish Rawat had failed to live up to the expectations.

Ayub Khan, who joined the BJP, said local legislator Madan Kaushik never differentiated on religion basis and carried out development in Jwalapur too, as a result of which he had won thrice from Haridwar.

Among the others who joined the BJP were MA Alam, Parvez Alam, Gulfam, Idhrish, Anish, Bilal and Jamshed Khan.

Haridwar, May 13
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare visited Haridwar today as part of the second leg of his Jantantra Yatra. He was given a warm welcome by the common people and saints.

He stayed at Shantikunj, where he met Akhil Bharatiya Gayatri Parivar head Pranav Pandya and Shail Jiji. In a talk that lasted for half an hour, both Anna and Pandya discussed topics concerning corruption and the country. Later, talking to mediapersons, Anna Hazare said he had started the second leg of his nationwide movement from Uttarakhand. He said the support he was getting from the people of the Uttarakhand was overwhelming. Anna Hazare urged Shantikunj and other institutions to spread awareness about the need to eradicate corruption.

Pandya gave an assurance to Anna Hazare that Shantikunj and its lakhs of devotees were with him in this war against corruption.

Anna Hazare was accompanied by social activists, religious gurus and clerics in five vehicles and one chariot. Cleric from Azmer Sharif Mohammed Gilani apprised people about the need and impact of Hazare's movement in today's time, where corruption had deeply infected the system and society.

Dehradun, May 13
A delegation of statehood agitators today met District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam with regard to the procedure of identification of statehood agitators in the district. The agitators appealed to the DM to include their names in the list of statehood agitators by the month-end only. MS Negi said:' 'This process of identification of statehood agitators which began in 2004 is in the last stage. The government has already issued a government order that the applications which were received in this regard by December 12 last year will be finalised by March this year. Since the process of inclusion of the verified names could not be included in the list till March, the DM should use his discretionary powers in this matter and acknowledge those who were a part of statehood struggle.'' He said the district administration might get busy in the preparation of panchayat elections from next month onwards, hence the DM must swiftly work on the task.

Negi said the Chief Minister has announced that after the completion of work of identification of statehood agitators, he would set up a corpus fund to provide them pensions and other amenities. Satya Pokhriyal, another statehood agitator, said this was the last chance for the statehood agitators to get their names included in the list and get the benefits accorded to them. Some of the agitators who do not fulfil the parameters such as carrying the newspaper clippings corroborating their presence in the agitation or stay in jail above seven days or treatment in hospital due to injuries sustained during the agitation etc, the DM must use his discretionary powers to give them place in the list.

Another agitator, Nirmala Devi, said if the state government was not interested in issuing them identity cards, it must tell them plainly. They could not take the pain and humiliation of making rounds of government offices in order to get their names included in the list and then get the I-cards made.

Purushottam said the work related to preparation of list regarding statehood agitators got delayed due to announcement of civic elections in the intervening period. He also found the official in charge of statehood agitators whom the responsibilities such as assuaging the concerns of statehood agitators and examination of their applications were given, was negligent about his work. He, however, assured the senior agitators that he would sincerely consider their cases.

Dehradun, May 13
On the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya today, the first green building of ONGC was inaugurated at Dehradun by Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman, ONGC Group of Companies.

An iconic building of Uttarakhand, it has been named Green Hills as it aptly reflects the verdant green hills of the surrounding Shivalik range.

Addressing the large gathering of ONGCians present for the inaugural function, Sudhir Vasudeva said: ''With the formal inauguration of it's first green building, on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, ONGC hopes that this will usher in an era of undiminishing energy finds. Also, the coffers of not only the organisation but of the country will remain filled always.'' He complimented all members of the various teams, from ONGC, architects, contractors and construction agency, for having executed the project despite various hurdles.

ONGC Director (HR) KS Jamestin, who was also present on this occasion, congratulated all those whose efforts have made ONGC's dream come true. He expressed special gratitude to all the workers and labourers whose toil often goes unrecognised but who are a vital part of such a project.

AK Balyan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Petronet LNG and former Director (HR), ONGC, was also present for this function. During his tenure in ONGC he was a part of the team that conceptualised the green buildings of ONGC. NK Verma, Director (Exploration), ONGC, graced the occasion with his presence.

Significantly, it was a dream of the erstwhile CMD of ONGC, Late Subir Raha that ONGC should take the initiative to create green buildings as its offices, at some of its prime work centres. Five green buildings are coming up at ONGC, Dehradun, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. Green Hills at Dehradun is the first green building to have been completed.

With a total built-up area of 14,600 sq mtrs, it is spread over 5 floors. Green Hills, ONGC, Dehradun, can seat 620 persons. It has a landscaped green roof and abundant bamboo plantation in the entrance hall of the building. Conserving water up to 30 per cent through use of onsite sewage plant and low flow sanitary fittings, it has also provision of rainwater harvesting.

Some of the other highlights of the green building include up to 43 per cent energy saving by use of energy efficient motors. Solar power generation will meet 7.5 per cent of total electrical load. Intelligent lighting for the building has been provided through use of sensors for day light control, LED and CFL lights and abundance of natural light availability.

With the completion of the Green Hills at ONGC, Dehradun, the company has kept its commitment for global environmental concerns.

Dehradun, May 13
The march by the trained Special Basic Teachers Course (BTC) teachers to the Secretariat in support of their demands was foiled by the police, which stopped the protesters a near the main gate.

The trained teachers who have been demanding jobs charged the government with letting them down time and time again. ''We were promised jobs after we were deployed in schools where there is shortage of teachers. We were promised that we would be absorbed in the Department of Education but the government did not pay any heed to our demands,'' charged Harishita Sharma, president of Special Basic Teachers Union.

The teachers also charged the government with failing to put forward their case in the court properly. BTC teachers have long been demanding jobs as they have been selected through Teachers' Entrance Test (TET) 2011. They have had several rounds of talks with the government, but failed to reach a consensus.

Dehradun May 13
District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam today made a surprise inspection of ration shops in the city where he suspended licence of one ration shop at Dharampur for certain irregularities. Purushottam said the shop owner Hari Prasad had not maintained the register and other records in the ration shop. Apart from this, he was also short of one and-half kg less quintal, which showed he sold it off in fraudulent ways. The shop owner also could not answer satisfactorily to the questions posed to him by the DM in this regard.

District Supply Officer Shyam Arya said the department was getting complaints about some ration shops. In the surprise check, the ration shop owner at Dharampur, Hari Prasad, was carrying one-and-half-quintal less wheat grain. Arya said some more inspections were likely to be made in the coming days where the erring ration shop holders would be punished as well.

It is noteworthy here that the district administration which suspend the erring ration shop holders' licences takes a long time to allot the same shops to new allottees. The administration waits for some more cases to pile up as the allotments to new shop holders is made by a committee comprising a number of officials, including District

Magistrate and Chief Development Officer and others. The meeting is called as per the availability of these officials. The cases of allotment of shops, where many politicians exert pressure in giving allotment to their kith and kin, keeps hanging for months, at times years together. This way the administration which shows promptness in punishing the faulty shop holders by cancelling their licences must replace them with the new ones in a time-bound manner so that the public does not suffer in the bargain.

Dehradun, May 13
The Doon School organised a book-reading session yesterday during which the upcoming Dehradun-based author, Ruby Gupta, was invited to share her experiences with the students.

Ruby Gupta, who has authored six books, read excerpts from her two novels, ‘Maya’ and ‘A Degree in Death’. Both the books are in the genre of the mystery novel. The intriguing excerpts were enjoyed by the students. 'Maya' is about the search for the meaning of existence. It also refers to the concept of maya as per the Hindu philosophy that this world is nothing but an illusion. 'A Degree in Death' is a murder mystery set in a college of Dehradun. The students enjoyed listening to the plot of the two novels and the interesting excerpts that were read out.

Ruby Gupta also gave tips on how to write a successful novel, and spoke at length about the craft of creating interesting stories and plots. This was followed by an interactive question-answer and discussion session. Enthusiastic students asked numerous questions, ranging from how to find plots of novels to the importance of philosophical books and how much time it takes to write a novel.

Mohan Joshi, Head of the Hindi Department, and Randhir Arora of Book World were also present.

Dehradun, May 13
Uttarakhand’s international ice skater and Class XII student of St Joseph's Academy Nishtha Painuli has done the state proud by representing India in the recently concluded International Skating Union World Development Trophy in Manila.

The Ice Skating Union, an international body of ice skating games, organised the first world development trophy in Manila, Philippines, during the last week of April, 2013 , where participants from world over learnt technical skills of figure skating on ice.

Nishtha Painuli, a life member of the Ice Skating Association of Uttarakhand, called the 'Ice Princess of Uttarakhand', represented India in the trophy.

During the event ,Nishtha met world-level ice-skaters, experts and officials of the International Skating Union and spoke about the development programme of ice skating in India, particularly with reference to Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand Sports Secretary Ajay Pradyot congratulated Nishtha for her achievement and adorned her with the India colour. He assured her that he would make the ice skating rink at Dehradun available to the skaters.

Nishtha said it was a Herculean task for her to perform amongst the nearly 60 excellent participants from all over the world. She disclosed that while participants from the other countries practised all the year round and sharpened their skills, in India, it was difficult to manage even 60 hours in the year.